Picking Up the Pieces
by Venice
Summary: A Distraught Su creates a time machine at the peak of politcal unrest as Keitaro tries to deal with his own inner demons. Duo Project With Novice89


Chapter 1 - Lost in a New World  
  
No one really knew exactly when things had gone bad, when the world had suddenly just given up on being civil. Some said it was started in Australia, when a shunned genius created man's greatest creation, others say it was in the underground burrows of London, with a team of scientists, but few, very few, knew that it had not come from the rough, rocky desert of Australia, or the dreary land of London or even the tropic forests of Brazil, it came from a small, sleepy town in Japan called Hinata. Near the center of this small town, was a famous inn, turned into an all-girls dorm, called the Hinata Sou. Here, a lanky, wayward man of 21 resided as manager. His welcome was lukewarm at best, his life threatened if he did not leave, his body overworked in a cruel plot to drive him away. But, as all things do, it came to an end, and sure, he was beaten on an occasional bases, he was accepted, even by a 15 year old Kendo protégé that lived there. And so, everyone settled down to a routine, the landlord getting punched, kicked halfway across town, coming back then to finish his chores. This scenario would always repeat itself, day after day, whether it be by means of a katana, courtesy of Motoko, the kendo girl, a furious, rage induced super punch, from Naru, a vicious 19 year old trying for Tokyo U, or maybe a missile, robot, etc. from Su, the resident foreigner. It was not Naru, he short tempered toudai applicant, nor Motoko, the anti-pervert kendo machine, nor Su the energetic robot creator, nor any of the female residents that started our own Armageddon.  
  
It was a cool summer evening. The Hinata residents had come to the beachside teahouse, a teahouse owned by the landlords aunt. In hopes of spreading word of the shop, they had put together a play. It was a simple one, only complicated by Kitsune, the resident trickster. On the last day of the play, extenuating circumstances had found Keitaro Urashima, our beloved landlord, pitted against his future mentor, Seta. As part of the play, they were going to fight for Naru, in their parts of course. But halfway through it, Seta had gotten too far into the story. This is that story.  
  
Seta stood feet away from an unconscious Motoko, facing Keitaro, smirking confidently. "Goku, I challenge you for your master, shall you lose, I will take her with me to become my bride in the demon world."  
  
Keitaro stared nervously. "What if I win?"  
  
"Hah! Like you'll win. Now prepare for defeat!" Seta said confidently, taking off in a fast sprint for Keitaro. Keitaro, slightly annoyed at Seta's seriousness and taunts, managed to dodge Seta and attempt to trip him with his staff. Seta jumped over it and whirled around, his cloaks spinning wildly in the wind, and landed a powerful punch to Keitaro's head. The force knocked Keitaro of his feet and sent him flying several feet. "Pathetic, your destruction hardly seems to promise any satisfaction anymore. Get up Goku, so we can finish this."  
Finally Keitaro snapped, letting all his hidden anger wash over him, like golden waves. He got on his feet and collected his staff. Spinning it violently above his head, he charged, no longer caring if Seta got really injured. Inches away from his opponent, Keitaro swung his staff in a vicious downward arch. Seta raised his hand to block, not bothering to summon his strength, believing he had already won. The bamboo struck his hand and a sickening crunch was heard as wind swirled around the two from the sheer force of the blow. Seta recoiled, stunned by the amazing pain coursing through his hand.  
Keitaro didn't give him anytime to recover, instead taking away his staff and attacking from the right. The staff connected with Seta's ribs. Another sickening crunch resounded throughout the stadium as the audience watched in awe as Keitaro completely destroyed the 'demon king.' Keitaro backed off slightly and let Seta get up. Seta, not wanting to let this moment to go to waste, rose to his feet and set loose, sending a barrage of kicks and punches to Keitaro. Each strike was blocked by the staff as Keitaro quickly maneuvered it, completely diminishing Seta's hopes of victory. Everyone gazed in awe as Seta's movements grew sluggish, and drawn out. Keitaro gazed blankly at Seta, not showing any emotion at all. After a while Seta's attack stopped. Keitaro looked at the Toudai teacher through hazy vision. He couldn't hear anymore, he could barely see. But he could feel everything else with microscopic detail, every strand of hair, every bead of sweat, everything. He gazed upon Seta, and decided he'd humiliated him enough. But maybe not yet. Inside, Keitaro uncurled a malicious smile. Keitaro reached out and grabbed Seta's chin. He gazed into his eyes and gave a small smile. "Ready?" Keitaro asked softly. Then, without waiting for a response, Keitaro bashed his head into Seta's. The toudai professor and archeologist fell to the ground dazed and unconscious. The cheers of the crowd snapped Keitaro back into the real world, as the curtains drew closed. Naru, after being released from her bonds, rushed over to Seta and crouched over him. She looked up and gave Keitaro a scornful and disgusted look. She got up and ran over to him and delivered her custom punch to Keitaro who, in his still powered state, only staggered back slightly. "HOW COULD YOU!" she screamed at him. Keitaro couldn't understand anything, no matter how hard he tried to get a wrap on what was happening. "But it was an act, and look what he did to Motoko." he tried to explain. He had to explain, he had to apologize, not for Naru, or for anyone else, but he had too explain it for himself, he had to come to grips with his own demons. But he went ignored, as everyone crowded over Seta's limp form and checked him for any wounds. The only one that listened was Haruka. She stood behind him and quietly said, "You might have gone too far, nephew." He stood alone now, numb beyond anything he had ever felt. He could feel the world slipping away from him, growing dark and void, leaving him in alone on a solitary piece of land. He could only barely make out the sad and downcast faces of his tenants shaking their heads in his direction, all except Su and Sara, both too young to understand. That was his last memory before darkness took over him. Keitaro's limp body fell to the ground.  
  
Keitaro was never the same. When they had returned to Hinata Sou, it was as if the life had been sucked right out of it, like dirt is sucked right out of a carpet with a vacuum cleaner. But the vacuum cleaner here was not one of plasctic and motor, but one of blood and betrayel. To many, Keitaro had not merely responded to on over enthused Seta, but had become a bloodthirsty monster. This new revelation had come at a horrible time in the world. Politcial turmoil and chaos ravaged the world, threatening to end all forms of civilization, a war on the brink of breaking out. Of course, to make matters worse, Kaollo's country had chosen it's time to make itself known. It too was now involved in the power struggle. As alliances fell and treachery reached it's pinnicle, Rongamao, Kaolla's country, had chosen the less traveled road. As a safety precaution, they had dropped out of the scuffle and had pulled back all their ambassadors before the spies could. It was now in complete seclusion, taking all of Australia as it's domain. The tenants had started getting colder, well all except Su, and Shinobu. Naru and Motoko beat on him furiously everyday without any remorse whatsoever. Kitsune never talked to him unless it was for free rent or booze. Sara was the most affected by Seta's defeat, hurling artifacts and other findings at him, sometime averaging over sixty hits an hour. Of course, the plus side was that it was now a proven fact that he was immortal, and immune to any forms of pain. Rongamao had become a fortress, in a manner of speaking, No one could enter or leave the now mythical city. No one knew if Su was going to return to Rongamao. Soon everyone was on her, seeing her as not a person or even a genius, but as a ticket to freedom in Rongamao. The tenants started to get nasty and treacherous, everyone wanted Su's ticket. Except Keitaro, who had fallen into a daze, unable to draw himself out, lost forever in his memories that were both torture and salvation. Then, it happened, the day alliances were destroyed, when the world undid millenniums worth of civilization with the push of one button. Su had lost all her former demeanor and had fallen into a depression. The cause was Keitaro, who no longer responded to anything but fulfilled all his managerial duties with a robotic efficiency. In hopes that she could go back to the days when everyone was happy and laughing, Su built a time machine [89 - God that sounds so lame | Ven - Stick to the story]. Of course, word spread, drawing even more unwanted attention to the already unstable Su. Everyone, except Keitaro, who was now nothing more than an empty shell of a man, started going all out and competing for Su's ticket to the future. Out of desperation, Su ran to her room and activated the machine. Keitaro had been in there putting back a misplaced bottle of experimental fluid in Su's room. Everyone rushed to her room, with only a ticket to Rongamao and a better future in their minds. A sickly green glow enveloped the room, as the jar broke open in Keitaro's hand.  
  
The grounds were eerily quiet as a cloaked figure wandered through the dark streets. He moved quietly trying not to be noticed, sticking to the shadows and walking and walking slowly. The figure stared ahead and made absolutely no other gesture, no cough no shudder, nothing. He moved in a straight line, glancing here and there to check that he was not being followed or watched. He wandered through distraught, with only a vague idea of where he was going, picking up pieces from his shattered former life, trying to piece together an existence in this strange new world. He had received a letter days before summoning him to Rongamao, a city he had never heard of before. He could not recognize this new world he found himself in. He could only remember a few things, a fist colliding with his head, a sword striking him, a sandbox, a girl and the word promise running laps in his mind. But, now he found himself in a strange new world, completely lost except for martial arts skills he had picked up from somewhere and a mental map with many gaps, like a puzzle that didn't come with all the pieces. The figure stopped suddenly at the end of the street and looked around, making sure that he was still undetected, before continuing his solitary march.  
  
Miles ahead of this figure, walked a jovial man, not as carefully and much more recklessly. He was drunk, unable to hide himself from detection. Of course, he thought he had won the race already, and had dropped all defenses. Rongamao was only a few miles southwest from here, only. Unbeknownst to him three Narusegawian foot soldiers followed him, stick to the shadows. They continued in pursuit of the careless and oblivious ranger. On and on this wild dance went on. For hours they walked and walked, saying nothing and letting the ranger make enough noise for all of them. Over the horizon, dawn was breaking as the group neared the docks. Here the soldiers took action. Before they came over the edge of the embankment, the surged forward, like a swarm of hungry locusts, and descended upon the drunk ranger. Pulling out their daggers, the two were on top of the man, and in a flurry of cloaks and daggers had him on the ground, eyes wild and frantic as the blade cut into his stomach. Blood spilt onto the ground and stain the grass, and roots, sinking into the ground, infecting it with it's venom and hatred.  
  
"Gather his papers and let us return to the palace, Jhabar." Said one man as he crouched down and began searching through his victims pockets. He looked up when there was a click. "Now, get up and you wont have to die, Omar." Jhabar said calmly as he aimed the gun in his hand. "Threachery! How could you do this to me. We were friends, I thought that I could count on you not to stab me in the back."  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you, but this is something I can't turn down, an opportunity for a better life."  
  
"What are you talking about!?"  
  
"You're an idiot, Omari. There is something this man has that is very valuable. Our idiot queen is just to blind to see it. The ranger's ticket to Rongamao." Jhabar finished, his resolve now highlighted.  
  
Only a few yards behind the duo walked the other cloaked ranger, trekking the now rough terrain with practiced ease. As dawn approached, he quickly picked up his pace, not wanting to be seen for an unknown reason. He quickened even more and reached a clearing that he was sure would lead him to his destination, Rongamao. 


End file.
